Lehigh Football Nation
February 1st, 2011, 10:13 PM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703439504576116640671022446.html?m od=googlenews_wsj
Get by the misleading title, and you finally get to some good stuff.
This has been a very good year for Hofstra athletics, if only in comparison to the previous one when the losses included not only games but widely respected coaches and the sport that provided the institution with a national identity.
Wait, it gets better:
Still, even while contemplating such positive thoughts, Hofstra hasn't completely shaken the hangover from 2009-10.
Just three hours before the game against Drexel, the school inducted its Hall of Fame class of 2011. Among the inductees was Mike D'Amato , a former defensive back who was drafted by the Jets and spent the 1968 championship season with the team right through the Super Bowl victory over the Baltimore Colts. He is retired after serving as a special assistant to the president for alumni relations at his alma mater.
"Some of my football friends said they would like to be here," said Mr. D'Amato, who also represented the school in lacrosse, "but they couldn't support the university because of what happened to football. I was torn but my wife said, 'That's ridiculous, you have to go.' It's still my university, regardless of what happened to football."
There are a number of former football players who still don't accept the decision to drop the sport by the Board of Trustees following what Mr. Rabinowitz said was a two-year study. The president said the school was spending $4.5 million per year on football while generating an average attendance of 4,260, only 500 students among them.
"Those figures include soft money for scholarships, which is just putting another guy in a class," said Brad Gerstman, an attorney, political strategist and former Hofstra cornerback who founded the web site SaveHofstraFootball.org. "The real hard costs are about $2 million.
Permit me to stop here and wipe the tear of joy from my eye after finally seeing in print the exposure of the $4.5 million lie by Mr. Gerstman, correctly noting that $2 million is scholarship money, or "putting another guy in a class". (He didn't add the $1 million in revenue the program generated, but could have.)
Continuing:
"I look at the big picture, Long Island college sports, and I'll tell you who is growing leaps and bounds. Stony Brook. Football was the biggest sport at Hofstra. Did I do enough to keep it there? No. I should have gone to every game. Now Stony Brook has maximized its opportunity."
I see this piece as a "I come not to bury Caesar, but to praise him" moment. Hofstra football deserves it. And, kudos to the WSJ for getting this right. xsmileyclapx
Get by the misleading title, and you finally get to some good stuff.
This has been a very good year for Hofstra athletics, if only in comparison to the previous one when the losses included not only games but widely respected coaches and the sport that provided the institution with a national identity.
Wait, it gets better:
Still, even while contemplating such positive thoughts, Hofstra hasn't completely shaken the hangover from 2009-10.
Just three hours before the game against Drexel, the school inducted its Hall of Fame class of 2011. Among the inductees was Mike D'Amato , a former defensive back who was drafted by the Jets and spent the 1968 championship season with the team right through the Super Bowl victory over the Baltimore Colts. He is retired after serving as a special assistant to the president for alumni relations at his alma mater.
"Some of my football friends said they would like to be here," said Mr. D'Amato, who also represented the school in lacrosse, "but they couldn't support the university because of what happened to football. I was torn but my wife said, 'That's ridiculous, you have to go.' It's still my university, regardless of what happened to football."
There are a number of former football players who still don't accept the decision to drop the sport by the Board of Trustees following what Mr. Rabinowitz said was a two-year study. The president said the school was spending $4.5 million per year on football while generating an average attendance of 4,260, only 500 students among them.
"Those figures include soft money for scholarships, which is just putting another guy in a class," said Brad Gerstman, an attorney, political strategist and former Hofstra cornerback who founded the web site SaveHofstraFootball.org. "The real hard costs are about $2 million.
Permit me to stop here and wipe the tear of joy from my eye after finally seeing in print the exposure of the $4.5 million lie by Mr. Gerstman, correctly noting that $2 million is scholarship money, or "putting another guy in a class". (He didn't add the $1 million in revenue the program generated, but could have.)
Continuing:
"I look at the big picture, Long Island college sports, and I'll tell you who is growing leaps and bounds. Stony Brook. Football was the biggest sport at Hofstra. Did I do enough to keep it there? No. I should have gone to every game. Now Stony Brook has maximized its opportunity."
I see this piece as a "I come not to bury Caesar, but to praise him" moment. Hofstra football deserves it. And, kudos to the WSJ for getting this right. xsmileyclapx